Turkey, Italy and Libya leaders discuss Mediterranean migration route, cooperation
President Tayyip Erdogan met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah to discuss migration and other potential cooperation areas.
"Erdogan pointed to the importance of the cooperation between the three countries against the tests that the Mediterranean basin is facing, including irregular migration flows," the presidency said in a statement.
He added that "long-term and sustainable solutions" were needed to stop such migration flows, and that a multilateral coordination was needed to achieve this, it said.
Major energy exporter Libya, long split between rival eastern and western factions, is one of the main jumping off points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
Rival regional powers - Russia, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates - have also been drawn into its political divisions.
NATO member Turkey has militarily and politically supported Libya's Tripoli-based internationally-recognised government. In 2020, it sent military personnel there to train and support its government and later agreed a maritime demarcation accord, which has been disputed by Egypt and Greece.
In 2022, Ankara and Tripoli also signed a preliminary accord on energy exploration, which Egypt and Greece also oppose.
NATO allies Turkey and Italy meanwhile have strong ties, and have pledged to boost cooperation in the defence industry, while also increasing their reciprocal trade.
Italy's Leonardo (LDOF.MI), opens new tab and Turkey's Baykar announced in March that they were setting up a joint venture to produce unmanned aerial vehicles, while Ankara has been inching closer to securing a procurement of 40 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets from a consortium that includes Italy.
Erdogan's office also said the three leaders agreed to meet to evaluate any decisions taken by their cooperation committees later.
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
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The British public deserves to know what Miliband discussed with Beijing
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Times
8 hours ago
- Times
A day at asylum court shows why decisions are so painfully slow
A Kurdish man fidgets nervously with his hands, sitting behind a desk in court number four at Taylor House immigration tribunal. To his left is an interpreter, to his right a specialist immigration barrister appointed to represent him by a firm in London. Over the space of an hour and a half, a lawyer from the Home Office — which initially refused his asylum claim and is arguing that he should not be allowed to stay in the UK — fires questions at the man. He arrived in the UK by boat in 2022 and has already answered many of these questions on previous occasions. • Yvette Cooper: We're fixing asylum the British way They mainly relate to his journey to the UK from Turkey and his claim of political persecution in his homeland, where he says he was beaten by the police after attending pro-Kurdish demonstrations. Questions over, he moves to the back of the court, sitting with his head in his hands while the two lawyers sum up their arguments. September will mark three years since he arrived here. The Kurdish man's case is just one of more than 50,000 asylum appeals waiting to be resolved through the courts. This is the hidden asylum backlog. While the government has been focused on cutting down the 79,000 people waiting for an initial decision on an asylum claim, these extra 50,000 cases involve people challenging the Home Office's decision to refuse their application. Two years ago, the number of appeals was just under 7,500. Last weekend, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, wrote in The Sunday Times: 'The backlog of initial asylum decisions is now down, but too many cases are being dragged out by long appeal delays or endless repeat applications. That can't go on.' It takes an average of 54 weeks from the moment an appeal is made to receiving a decision. More complicated cases can take far longer. 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Their case entered the system in June. Yet even their desperate case coming to the UK was not straightforward. A legal issue needed to be reviewed by the Home Office and the family's legal representation, so the case was adjourned until late August. Delays in the courts are common. 'A presenting officer from the Home Office is often appointed very late in the day, and that leads to a lot of frustrating adjournments because the appellant's lawyer couldn't communicate with the Home Office before the hearing,' said Lenegan. 'It's under-resourced.' If an appeal is rejected by the tribunal judge, migrants can apply to challenge the rejection at the Upper Immigration Tribunal but only on the grounds of legal error. Then, once the appeals process ends, the individual often faces deportation. In the year to March, 8,590 people were forcibly removed from the UK, though this figure includes visa overstayers and other migrants who have breached conditions. Most Labour policy has focused on the front or back end of the system, promising to 'smash the gangs' of people smugglers, increase deportations and set up new return deals with countries of origin. Meanwhile, it aims to cut costs by closing all asylum hotels by 2029. In June, the chancellor pledged £200 million to 'cut the asylum backlog' and 'hear more appeal cases' among other initiatives. The Home Office said: 'We will overhaul the entire asylum appeals system we inherited, including new fast-track decisions and reforms to the way Article 8 'family life' claims are interpreted.' 'In the interim, we will continue working to clear the asylum backlog by increasing asylum decision-making, we will continue to remove failed asylum seekers and other people with no right to be here, and we will continue to robustly defend our asylum decisions in the courts where it is right and necessary to do so.' One solution to cutting the court backlog is to follow other European countries such as Italy which has expanded 'safe country of origin' lists meaning fewer appeals, or France which has reduced the time limit for appeals and reorganised its national asylum court to create new chambers capable of handling appeals. For the Kurdish man, the judge has promised to give him a decision within a fortnight — meaning he will reach the end of his asylum claim before his third anniversary in the UK.
The Sun
11 hours ago
- The Sun
Four-star migrant hotel hides Hilton signs after asylum seekers arrive in apparent bid to hide use from protesters
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